Pregame notes: Three Raiders who won’t suit up vs. Packers

Mario Edwards Jr. (97) suffered his serious neck injury last time the Raiders and Packers met. He’ll sit this one out with a hip ailment while Ben Heeney (51) will suit up. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Defensive end Mario Edwards Jr., tight end Gabe Holmes and running back Jalen Richard will not suit up for the Raiders in Thursday night’s exhibition game against the Green Bay Packers.

The mild surprise is that linebacker Ben Heeney is not on that list. Heeney suffered a minor leg injury in practice on Monday after getting tangled up with tight end Mychal Rivera on a deep pass route.

Heeney was at practice the next day, which was a non-padded practice, and didn’t participate in team drills. Typically, if a player isn’t involved in team drills in the last practice before a game, he doesn’t play, especially for an exhibition game. And there’s no knowing yet how much Heeney will play, if at all. But it’s a good sign for him to be suited up as clearly indicates how minor his injury was.

Richard misses his second straight preseason game with a knee injury suffered just a couple days before last week’s game against the Cardinals. He had been considered a strong candidate for the roster and is expected to remain heavily in the mix despite the injury.